Knee replacement surgery is supposed to be a routine procedure. One plastic knee gets traded for a worn-out knee and shazaam - Instant quality of life! However, it didn’t quite work that way for my Dad. He received too much pain medication, which made him loopy, irritable, and subject to hallucinations.

As a result, my two sisters and I decided to take turns staying with him at night. During my shift, Dad and I shared memories and formulated solutions to life problems. His solution for every life problem always seemed to relate to something he learned teaching his shop classes! 

As I watched him sleep, I had the chance to appreciate what a really good man my father is.  I recalled how much he cared for my mother and how he treated my sisters and I. Just about everything I remembered him doing involved teaching or serving.  For example, when I set the neighbor’s wooden fence on fire, he didn’t scold me, he taught me.  When I broke an important rule, he didn’t punish me, he taught me.  And when he wasn’t teaching, he was serving.  Sometime in the quiet hours of the night, it occurred to me that my father had earned his black belt in selfless service years and years ago. 

I finally drifted off to sleep late Saturday night.  But I was awakened early Sunday morning by the sound of my father thrashing about.  I called out, “Dad, are you alright?”  In a barely audible murmur, I heard him say in his sleep and drug induced state, “Yeah, I’m just trying to cover you up”. 

My father, who was recovering from surgery, who was tired, grumpy and over-medicated, and who was probably mostly asleep, had just expressed concern about my physical comfort.  It occurred to me that his service muscle must extend all the way to his sub-conscious.  Jolted back to reality by his continued thrashing, I quickly replied, “I am 12 feet away Dad… and I am covered Dad; I am covered.”  I was never more grateful to be covered.

Express gratitude to the people who have covered you up over the course of your life. Why not do it today?